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So you're implying that Chewbacca didn't kill Ben out of sympathy? Still a good comic

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I am Exdeath. Step aside pesky clowns, or your warranty is Void!

After a long wait, with everything from health to overtime at work getting in the way, I was finally able to see the movie. Perhaps I could be accused of wearing rose-colored glasses, or wanting the movie to be good (both of which I'll try to refute below), but I thought that the movie vastly exceeded my expectations, and I thought it was one of the better movies of this type I've seen in quite a while.

When I saw Revenge of the Sith day one in 2005, a year before I joined this forum, Star Wars was one of my few nerd loves, alongside Pokémon. Less than a year later I would get into FFVI. A little bit later, I watched and then read Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and the Silmarillion. Then I watched the original series of Star Trek for the first time and rediscovered the Next Generation. And finally, in the past few years, I've discovered/fell in love with Doctor Who. In short, my life no longer revolves around Star Wars. So, if the movie was terrible, it wouldn't have been the end of the world.

That sentiment has been braced by two things. First, the memory of the disappointment of the third Hobbit film. I knew I shouldn't have had high expectations, but I let myself get caught up in it. I learned not to take it too seriously, especially with remakes or franchise revivals. Second, after Lost I had no expectations for JJ Abrams. I don't necessarily like or trust his style, and I still don't like that he's somehow gained control of both Star Trek and Star Wars.

Finally, and most importantly, I don't have any extra animosity towards the prequel films. I don't think they're good films, but they're not absolutely terrible. I used to think they were, but I have no reason to hate them anymore.

But the reason I loved this movie is not a big secret or spoiler. They returned to what made the original films great, which was good acting, or at least good personalities at the lead roles. I liked each of the main characters. Daisy Ridley and John Boyega did a great job, and so did Oscar Isaac. Not to go too far into spoiler territory, but I love the way that Adam Driver played Kylo Ren. It actually made me interested to see its sequels.

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Praise Be To Helix!

Quote (BlitzSage @ 10th January 2016 15:47)

They returned to what made the original films great, which was good acting, or at least good personalities at the lead roles. I liked each of the main characters. Daisy Ridley and John Boyega did a great job, and so did Oscar Isaac. Not to go too far into spoiler territory, but I love the way that Adam Driver played Kylo Ren. It actually made me interested to see its sequels.

Um.

Literally none of the Star Wars movies have what can be called "good acting". Not From a New Hope to Revenge of the Sith -or- The Phantom Menace to Return of the Jedi and certainly not The Force Awakens.

But I think Rey, Finn and Poe are well done characters, if a bit rushed their development was. Kylo Ren had me until he took his mask off.

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

If they were going to unmask him at all in this movie, wait until Rey blasts his face with that lightsaber at the end, revealing a handsome nemesis with a now massive face-wound. It would have added much more menace to his character going forward, especially if he wouldn't have even taken his mask off when he shafts daddy Han. If this badass Dark Jedi's face (He isn't Sith, but a Dark Jedi, btw) stayed hidden until the very end, revealing a young, confused child, the delivery would have been much more powerful.

I'm assuming now that the lot of you are casual Star Wars fans and realizing now how beyond gay I am for Star Wars.

So not everything was wrong with TFA, but this is a huge missed opportunity, and was literally thrown together as quick as possible to establish the new lore and canon. There was no question of whether the thing would make money. But on all other fronts, this film is a disappointment, and a missed opportunity going forward.

Since they were first announced, I figured Rogue One would be the better handling of the Star Wars license between it and The Force Awakens. As it stands, The Force Awakens should have been treated as a stand-alone film and a proper Trilogy should have been written as 1 story split into 3 films.


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Dynamic Threads (Youtube)

Quote (Dynamic Threads @ 11th January 2016 17:39)

Literally none of the Star Wars movies have what can be called "good acting". Not From a New Hope to Revenge of the Sith -or- The Phantom Menace to Return of the Jedi and certainly not The Force Awakens.

What are you talking about? The three original films had really good actors at the helm, from Harrison Ford near his prime, Alec Guinness, etc. The movies wouldn't have been nearly as good without them. That's a lot of what the prequels were lacking. You can get through a lot of bad dialogue with good acting or good personalities.

As for the reveal(s), I appreciate how they handled each of them.

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Showing Kylo Ren's face, or that Rey is clearly Han's daughter, etc.

They got those out of the way pretty quick, and so they mostly avoided JJ's "mystery box" b.s.

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Praise Be To Helix!